Means for securing an embroidery fabric on a schiffli-type embroidering machine



Nov. 19, 1963 CONRAD 3,111,284

E. H. MEANS FOR SECURING AN EMBROIDERY FABRIC ON A SCHIFFLI-TYPE EMBROIDERING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1962 INV EN TOR. [RICH HENRY CONRAD United States Patent 3,111,284 MEANS FOR SEKZURING AN EMBRQHDERY FAB- RIC ON A SCHIFFLI-TYPE ENBRGIDERKNG MACIENE Erich Henry Conrad, 210 Oahdene Ave, Temeck, NJ. Substituted for abandoned application Ser. No. 73,817, Dec. 5, 196%. This application July 12, 1962, Ser. No. 211,931

5 Claims. (Cl. 24274) The present invention relates to Schiffii-type embroidering majchines of the kind that are provided with a multiplicity of horizontallydisposed needles arranged in horizontal rows which reciprocate to an emboidery fabric that is moved by rollers to which it is connected past such rows of needles and rows of cooperating shuttles, to receive embroidery stitches; and, more particularly, to the means for attaching such embroidery fabrics to the rollers, and is an extension of my invention described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 53,710, filed September 2, 1960.

In my said co-pending application, I have described improved method and means for securing a connecting web section cloth to an edge, of which the embroidery fabric is secured by its edge, to the fabric-moving rollers of the apparatus. The present invention is directed to improved means for securing the embroidery fabric to the connecting wveb section cloth.

In attaching the fabric to be embroidered to the rollers of an embroidering machine of the Schifii-type, such as described, a connecting web section is generally utilized. This cloth or canvas is secured by one edge to the rollers of the machine, either in the conventional manner or in a manner described in my aforementioned co-pen'ding application. The cloth has secured to its opposed edge a metal bar into which are set a plurality of closely-spaced curved metal pins and the embroidery fabric is caught by its edge over said pins.

The foregoing type of fabric-attaching means has presented a number of problems. If the fabric is manually attached over the curved pins, it becomes a time consuming and tedious operation, as well as one that frequently is the cause of injury to the operators fingers. To obviate these difiiculties, various tools and devices have been developed for engaging the fabric edge over the pins without bringing the hands into contact with the pins. These devices have to an extent eliminated the risk of injury and have speeded up the fabric-attaching operation. However, they have created their own drawbacks in that it is not always possible to get attachment of the fabric tension that is desirable and, since the pins are relatively thin, the use of such devices frequently results in the breaking off or bending of the pins, to render the connecting web section unfit for use and require its replacement. Since the formation of a metal bar with a great plurality of closelyspaced curved pins fixed thereon, all pins curved in the same direction and at the same angle, is an exacting and costly operation, the connecting web section of the prior art was a costly item and its removal and replacement a time-consuming and costly operation that adds to the replacement cost by keeping the apparatus idle for relatively long periods of time.

Also, with the connecting web section of the prior art, it frequently happened that as a result of the lack of alertness on the part of the operator, the edge of the embroidery fabric attached to the connecting web section was brought into line with the row of reciprocating needles, so that some of the needles, at least, in their movement towards the fabric, stuck the pin-supporting metal strip and became damaged or broken, requiring the stopping of the apparatus for their replacement, with a consequent loss of apparatus time and needle cost.

3,lll,284 Patented Nov. 19, 1963 It is an object of the present invention to provide connecting web sections in which the curved pins are eliminated, to thereby eliminate the drawbacks of risk of injury to the operator, as well as any pin breaking and the consequent need for frequent replacement.

It is another object of the present invention to provide connecting web sections which, because of the elimination of the curved pins, are more economical to produce.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide means for attaching embroidery fabric to the fabric-winding roller which will obviate any risk of needle breakage by reason of striking the metal bar of the connecting web section.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide means for attaching fabric to a connecting web section which permit safe and rapid securing and removal of the fabric.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the embroidery fabric attaching means of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings, and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific details shown therein.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a foreshortened, fragmentary, perspective view showing the embroidery fabric attaching means of the present invention as secured on an embroidering machine roller;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 2--2 of HG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, foreshortened view of an intermediate cloth forming part of the fabric-attaching means of the invention.

Generally stated, the present invention contemplates the elimination of pins at the edge of the connecting web section and providing a relatively narrow intermediate cloth which may be sewn or basted by one edge to an edge of the embroidery fabric and whose other edge and the free edge of the connecting web section are provided with interfitting, interengageable means by which the two edges may be hooked to or unhooked from one another with great ease, safety and speed.

In the accompanying drawings, there is illustrated, more or less diagrammatically, a conventional fabric winding roller of a Schifiii-type embroidering machine, generally designated as 1%, which is formed with a longitudinally-extending concavity 12 in its surface, within which is secured one edge of a connecting web section, generally designated as 14'. The securing means for the connecting web section may comprise the means described in my co-pending application aforementioned, which consists of a bar 16 secured by one edge portion along an edge of the concavity 14 with its other edge portion being outwardly offset and overhanging the concavity 12, to form a longitudinal narrow recess 18, within which is engaged the stay-stiffened end 20 of a preferably canvas cloth 21 of the connecting web section 14. Secured to the other edge of the connecting web section, in any desired manner, as by stitching or by eyelets 22, as illustrated, is an elongated metal bar 24. The metal bar 24 preferably extends the entire Width of the cloth section 21 and is secured thereto by one edge with its other edge being re-entrantly bent to form a U-shaped hook 23 whose two sides are spaced from one another.

The present invention provides a second cloth 26 of substantially equal width -with the cloth 21, which may likewise be formed of canvas, which may be secured by one edge, as by sewn stitch 28, to the edge of an em- 3 broidery fabric 39, and which is provided on its outer edge with stay means 3211181 will fit snugly within the hook 23 of the connecting web section 14.

The stay means 32. may comprise metal strips which are held in a sleeve seam formed at the edge of the cloth 2e, similar to the stay-holding means at the edge of the connecting web section, as described in my said co-pending application, or may comprise thermoplastic synthetic plastic strips, that may be heat-sealed directly or by means of a thermoplastic cement to the edge of the fabric 26, as illustrated. Preferably the stay means 32 may cornprise a plurality of sections which are secured in place in spaced end-to-end relation to one another, to permit the automatic adjustment of the cloth to any irregularities in the sewing of the fabric 30 to the cloth strip 26.

This completes the description of the embroidery fabric .ttaching means for a Schifili-type embroidering machine of the present invention. It will be readily apparent that the continuous metal hook at the end of the connecting Web section, as contemplated by the present invention, is relatively greatly more economical to produce and easier to attach to the cloth than the pin-studded bar of the prior art. It will also be apparent that the intermediate strip whose attachment by sewing to the fabric is a relatively simple and rapid operation, may have its stay-reinforcing edge quickly, securely and safely engaged within the hook of the connecting Web section with great speed and Without any risk of injury to the operator or of any damage to the connecting web section.

It will additionally be apparent that the interposition of the intermediate cloth strip between the connecting web section and the embroidery fabric also eliminates the risk of the breaking of the needles by reason of the operators oversight in allowing the embroidering operation to approach too closely to the end of the embroidery fabric.

It will be further apparent that numerous modifications and variations in the embroidery fabric attaching means of the present invention may be made by anyone skilled in the art, in accordance with the principles of the invention hereinabove set forth, and without any inventive ingenuity. 1 desire, therefore, to be protected for any and all such modifications and variations that may be made within the spirit of the present invention and scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. A device for securing an embroidery fabric to the roller of a Sohifili-type embroidering machine, comprising, in combination, a first, substantially rectangular connecting web section, cooperating means on said roller and on a marginal edge portion of said first web section for securing said web section to said roller, said web section having rigid, U-shaped hook means secured thereto at its opposed marginal edge portion by one side thereof, with its open end facing said first edge portion, and a second, substantially rectangular connecting Web section, said second connecting web section having substantially rigid stay means secured thereto along one marginal edge portion thereof, said one marginal edge portion of said second connecting web section engageable within said hook means, saidsecond connecting lweb section adapted to have its opposed marginal edge portion stitched to an edge of said embroidery fabric.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said hook means is substantially continuous across substantially the entire marginal edge portion of said first connecting web section, and said stay means is substantially continuous along said one marginal edge portion of said second connecting web section.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said means secured to said one marginal edge portion of said second connecting web section comprises a plurality of said elements secured to said marginal edge portion in alined, spaced edgeto-edge relation to one another.

4. For an embroidering machine of the character described having an embroidery fabric-moving roller operatively associated therewith, means for connecting an embroidery fabric to said roller, comprising, in combination, a longitudinally-extending groove formed in said roller, extending substantially the length thereof, a strip of rigid material substantially the length of said groove bent longitudinally along a central portion thereof to provide a pair of relatively offset marginal edge sections of said strip, said strip secured by one of said offset sections to said roller along an edge portion of said groove, with said other ofiset section thereof extending over said groove and spaced from the bed thereof to provide a recess between said other offset strip section and said groove bed, a first, substantially rectangular connecting web section, said first connecting web section having stiffening means along one edge portion thereof engageable within said recess and having on the marginal portion of its opposed edge U-shaped hook means opening in the direction of said first edge portion thereof, and a second, substantially rectangular connecting web section, said second connecting Web section having stifi stay means secured thereto along one marginal edge portion thereof, said one marginal edge portion of said second connecting web section securable within said hook means, said second connecting web section adapted to have an embroidery fabric secured to its opposed marginal edge portion.

5. The fabric-connecting means of claim 4, wherein said hook means is substantially continuous across substantially the entire mar inal edge portion of said first connecting Web section, and said stay means is substantially continuous along said one marginal edge portion of said second connect-ing web section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,022,807 Hargerty Dec. 3, 1935 2,655,976 Lovin Oct. 20, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 556,433 France Apr. 13, 1923 594,067 Germany Mar. 9, 1934 706,182 Germany May 20, 1941, 

1. A DEVICE FOR SECURING AN EMBROIDERY FABRIC TO THE ROLLER OF A SCHIFFLI-TYPE EMBROIDERING MACHINE, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A FIRST, SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR CONNECTING WEB SECTION, COOPERATING MEANS ON SAID ROLLER AND ON A MARGINAL EDGE PORTION OF SAID FIRST WEB SECTION FOR SECURING SAID WEB SECTION TO SAID ROLLER, SAID WEB SECTION HAVING RIGID, U-SHAPED HOOK MEANS SECURED THERETO AT ITS OPPOSED MARGINAL EDGE PORTION BY ONE SIDE THEREOF, WITH ITS OPEN END FACING SAID FIRST EDGE PORTION, AND A SECOND, SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR CONNECTING WEB SECTION, SAID SECOND CONNECTING WEB SECTION HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID STAY MEANS SECURED THERETO ALONG ONE MARGINAL EDGE PORTION THEREOF, SAID ONE MARGINAL EDGE PORTION OF SAID SECOND CONNECTING WEB SECTION ENGAGEABLE WITHIN SAID HOOK MEANS, SAID SECOND CONNECTING WEB SECTION ADAPTED TO HAVE ITS OPPOSED MARGINAL EDGE PORTION STITCHED TO AN EDGE OF SAID EMBROIDERY FABRIC. 